Instructions for Authors

Value in Health Regional Issues considers articles in the following categories, which comprise the sections of the journal. When submitting a manuscript through our online system, authors should indicate the appropriate category under which they wish their paper to be considered. All submissions will be considered for peer review prior to publication, with the exception of Editorials, Commentaries, and Letters to the Editor, which will be reviewed internally by the editors.

Comparative-Effectiveness Research/Health Technology Assessment
Although it is difficult to be precise about the nature of the articles in this category (see Luce et al, The Milbank Quarterly. 2010;88:256-276 for one taxonomy), Value in Health Regional Issues welcomes articles presenting information that can assist those deciding on the efficient and equitable allocation of healthcare resources by examining the relative value of interventions. In some cases, relative value may be addressed by considering only clinical outcomes, although normally it will involve considering PRO/QoL measures and impacts on resource utilization. Articles in this category can report the results of primary research or present findings from meta analyses or systematic reviews of the existing literature.

Economic Evaluations
Economic evaluations that assess the costs and consequences of alternative healthcare interventions are of interest, including those involving drugs, devices, procedures, and systems of organization of healthcare. However, studies that only consider costs or the economic burden of disease are less likely to be accepted unless they address important methodological or policy issues.

Health Policy Analyses
The journal invites articles that discuss various aspects of health policy, in particular those concerned with pricing and reimbursement issues, the adoption of new health technologies, or policies to encourage “value-based” decision making. However, the journal’s scope does not include papers dealing with more general issues of healthcare financing, health insurance, and cost- containment measures.

Patient-Reported Outcomes
Many challenging empirical and theoretical problems remain in the concept and measurement of patient-reported outcomes (PRO), including health-related quality of life (QoL). Articles presenting research on the development of measures for PRO/QoL instruments, especially innovative ways of assessing content or construct validity, are invited.

Preference-Based Assessments
Research on the development and use of various types of instruments to express the value of healthcare, including health “utility” assessments, discrete choice experiments/conjoint analyses, and assessments of individuals’ willingness to pay is encouraged.

* The manuscript word limit excludes the abstract, references, figure legends, tables, and appendices/supplemental materials.

Value in Health Regional Issues articles may be published in a language of the region other than English (ie, Spanish or Portuguese for Latin America region). All manuscripts accepted for publication in Value in Health Regional Issues must have an abstract and keywords in English as well as the language of the manuscript (if not English).

Authors for whom English is a second language who would like to submit a manuscript in English may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission. Authors wishing to employ a professional English-language editing service (English manuscript submissions only) should make contact and arrange payment with the editing service of their choice. For more details regarding the recommended services, click here.

Manuscripts must be written in English, typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, using an 8½ x 11-inch page format with 1-inch margins on all sides. Manuscripts must be submitted as editable files (preferably as Word documents) and contain minimal formatting (ie, no line numbers, no watermarks, no justification, underlining, indenting, etc). The document should not cross-reference or use hyperlinks to connect to Figures, Tables, or references within the file. Authors should consult the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (10th ed)⁷ or the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations)⁸ for specific style issues not addressed here.

Each submission should contain the following manuscript components (elements are listed in the order they should appear in the manuscript):

1. Cover Letter

The cover letter should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief and include a brief description of the article, indicating why the paper would be of particular interest to the readers of Value in Health Regional Issues and how it contributes to the existing literature. In addition, the cover letter should include the following specific components:

2. Title Pages

Each manuscript must contain two separate title pages in an editable format (preferably Word documents): One unblinded title page (containing author information, funding, disclosures, and acknowledgements) and one blinded title page (containing no identifying information of the authors or author institutions). Generally, the title pages should contain the following elements:

3. Manuscript Components

All manuscript submissions must contain the following components (see table below). Start each component on a new page.

4. Figures

Figures should each be submitted as a separate image file, not embedded or hyperlinked in the manuscript document or in a slide presentation. Cite figures consecutively as they appear in the text using Arabic numbers (eg, Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3A, etc). Each figure must be assigned a brief title (as few words as possible, and reserving abbreviations for the legend) and include a legend. The corresponding legend should be double-spaced on a separate page. All symbols, arrows, and abbreviations must be explained in the legend.

If authors provide usable color figures with their accepted article, the journal will ensure (at no additional charge) that these figures will appear in color online (eg, ScienceDirect and other sites). Image files should be provided in any the following formats: TIFF, JPG, PNG, and EPS at a minimum resolution of 92 DPI at a size of 3” x 5”.

Please be sure to delete any identifying patient information such as name, social security number, etc. Photographs in which a person’s face is recognizable must be accompanied by a letter of release from that person explicitly granting permission for publication in the journal. For any previously published material, written permission for both print and electronic reprint rights must be obtained from the copyright holder. For further explanation and examples of artwork preparation, see Elsevier’s Author Artwork Instructions at www.elsevier.com/artwork.

5. Tables

Tables must be submitted in an editable format (eg, Word or Excel). Do not embed tables within the text of the main document or include hyperlinks to the tables within the document. Either upload tables as separate files after the figures or include them in the main document after the reference section. Tables should be clearly labeled, neatly organized and easy to understand without reference to the text. Statistical estimates should indicate parameter estimates and, as appropriate, t ratios or standard error, statistical significance, sample size, and other relevant information.

All abbreviations must be explained in alphabetical order below each table (eg, DCE indicates discrete choice experiment; EMA, European Medicines Agency; MCDA, multiple criteria decision analysis).

6. Supplementary Material or Appendices

Authors may submit supplementary material or appendices that describe either methods or results in more detail if these are needed for clarity of understanding by either peer reviewers or readers. If submitted, indicate the particular reasons for the appendix and whether you are submitting it for possible web publication or simply for peer-review purposes.

Please note supplementary materials are not edited or laid out; they are posted online in the format submitted to the journal. Be sure to remove all track changes and to upload supplementary materials in the file format you want readers to access the information online.

7. Data, Models, Methodology, and Survey Instruments

All authors must agree to make their data available at the editor’s request for examination and re-analysis by referees or other persons designated by the editor. All models and methodologies must be presented in sufficient detail to be fully comprehensible to readers.

For papers analyzing preferences, Value in Health Regional Issues requires the submission of a copy of the survey instrument (translated into English if published in a different original language) used to generate the preference data. This is to help facilitate the review process, and the survey instrument need not appear in a final publication. If the authors wish the questionnaire to be published with the paper, it should be submitted through the journal’s online submission system as part of the paper. If the questionnaire is not intended to be published with the paper, it should be uploaded as “Supplemental File for Review” so that reviewers can view it as a supplemental appendix.

8. Reporting Sex and Gender in Research

Reporting guidance

For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals, or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor, and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the “Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) Guidelines" and the "SAGER guidelines checklist." These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions

Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (eg, chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth"), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men, and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact, and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development or identify as nonbinary. Moreover, the terms "sex" and "gender" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Because Value in Health Regional Issues uses an article-based publishing model where accepted articles are published without having to wait until a journal issue is complete, authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts on a rolling basis throughout the year. To submit a manuscript for consideration, authors must create an account in the journal’s web-based submission system called ScholarOne Manuscripts at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vihregionalissues. For assistance in navigating the online system, authors may contact the Editorial Office at vihrieditor@ispor.org.

Although we recognize that authors never want to hear that their papers are rejected, we also know that they value a fast response time. That said, the editors strive to return decisions on papers that are not sent out for an external peer review within 4 weeks.

On the other hand, all manuscripts that are deemed appropriate for Value in Health Regional Issues after initial screening  will  be reviewed by at least 2 peer reviewers. The objective of the journal is to complete peer review and reach a first decision within 8 to 10 weeks of submission, at which time the corresponding author will receive an email notification of the decision and anonymous feedback from the reviewers. Please note that all final decisions regarding acceptance or rejection rest solely with the Editor-in-Chief.

ISPOR journals expect the highest ethical standards from their authors, reviewers, and editors when conducting research, submitting papers, and throughout the entire peer review process. Both Value in Health and Value in Health Regional Issues subscribe to the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE)⁹ and supports COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers¹⁰.

Value in Health Regional Issues is an online publication, with issues appearing in January, March, May, July, September, and November. Each issue contains a mix of article types (eg, economic evaluations, health policy analyses, patient-reported outcomes, etc) from all geographic regions.

Accepted articles are published online on the journal’s website (http://www.ispor.org/publications/VIHRI/index.asp) and on the Elsevier site (http://www.valuehealthregionalissues.com) immediately after the article has undergone the production process (ie, copyediting, layout, author proofs, corrections, etc).

Authors may track accepted articles and set up email alerts to inform them when an article’s status has changed by visiting https://authors.elsevier.com/tracking/landingpage/selection.do. For any questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs and open access publishing, please contact the publisher directly.

Proofs will be sent electronically to the corresponding author to be checked carefully for publication errors. Substantive changes or additions to the edited manuscript are not allowed at this stage. Any changes to authorship (additions, deletions, reorder, etc) or substantial changes in the data or results require review and approval by the editors. Corrected proofs must be returned to the publisher within 48 hours.

The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via email. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.

For information on ethics in publishing and ethical guidelines for journal publications, see: Publishing Ethics and Ethical Guidelines.

ISPOR encourages responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies. Responsible use includes disclosing whether AI was used to produce submitted work(s), and if so, how it was used. Declaring the use of these technologies supports transparency between authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and contributors and may facilitate compliance with the terms of use of the relevant tool or technology.

ISPOR's complete AI policy is available here: https://www.ispor.org/ai-policy. To view Elsevier's AI policy, please go to https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/generative-ai-policies-for-journals.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere (either in whole or in part, in print or electronic form, in English or in any other language, etc) without the written consent of the copyright holder.

The recommended number of authors on a paper should not exceed 10. However, Value in Health Regional Issues is aware that sometimes a submitted paper may have a large number of authors, in which case authorship may be assigned to a group rather than to individuals. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should specify the group name and clearly identify the group members who can take credit and responsibility for the work as authors. The Editors reserve the right to seek clarification from the corresponding author if a paper has more than 10 authors or has a large number of authors in relation to the research reported in the paper.

Value in Health Regional Issues uses the guidance set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors.¹¹

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• 
  Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• 
  Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• 
  Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All those designated as authors should meet all 4 criteria for authorship, and all who meet the 4 criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all 4 criteria should be acknowledged. Authors can read the full set of recommendations at https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/.

Each author is required to complete and sign the journal’s Authorship Form. Completion of these forms is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless the Editorial Office has completed forms on file for each author. The journal’s authorship and copyright assignment form can be found online here. The submitting author is responsible for uploading the completed Authorship Forms into the ScholarOne system on behalf of the authors at the time of revision.

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases; please consult www.elsevier.com/permissions.

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. ISPOR’s journals follow the ICMJE’s policy for conflict of interest disclosures but use an online platform (ie, the Association of American Medical Colleges' Convey disclosure system) to collect disclosures from each author. At the revision stage, the Editorial Office will send emails to every author on a paper to invite them to complete their individual disclosures for their paper. The emails will contain a secure link for each author to complete and submit their disclosure form online. The Editorial Office will not process a revised paper until all authors have completed and submitted a disclosure form via the Convey system.

In recent years, the importance to authors of open access has been increased by the policies of major research funders in many countries, requiring that the publications arising from the work they fund should be freely available to all. Authors can read a full description of ISPOR’s approach to open access publication online available here. 

Although Value in Health Regional Issues is a traditional subscription-based journal, authors can choose to pay to have their articles published with open access (immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download). The current fees for open-access publishing are accessible on the publisher’s website. However, because Value in Health Regional Issues is a Society journal, all the published content automatically becomes open archive (freely accessible to all) 1 year after publication. Therefore, authors needing their articles to be open access to meet the requirements of various research competitions and awards may not need to pay for open access publication in Value in Health Regional Issues, depending on the precise requirements of their research funders.

In addition, the Editor-in-Chief nominates selected articles throughout the year that he believes are likely to have a high impact and therefore merit immediate “free” access on the publisher’s website for a specified period of time (ie, 30 days). Access is restricted for the remainder of the 12-month period, after which point the article becomes open archive and freely accessible to all 1 year after publication.

As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to Elsevier Author Rights.

Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies, please visit Elsevier Funding Bodies.

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9. Committee on Publication Ethics. https://publicationethics.org/. Accessed January 14, 2022.
10. COPE Council. Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. www.publicationethics.org. Version 2. Published September 2017. https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers. Accessed January 14, 2022.
11. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html. Accessed January 14, 2022.